


appetency

by armethaumaturgy



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Popstar, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, THEY SUFFER, popstar!Erblu, pyrotechnician!Rune
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-29 21:03:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10144094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/armethaumaturgy/pseuds/armethaumaturgy
Summary: Erblu likes someone. Well, of course he would, he knows so many talented performers, after all.Rune never had a chance to begin with.





	

Erblu’s sigh is relief incarnated.

He shucks his gloves off and his jacket follows, only ending on a hanger because he’s standing next to it.

The few technicians left backstage laugh; they all know Erblu gets like this after a show. Then again, who could blame him? Singing and dancing in the high-powered lights, with the addition of his eccentric costumes and the stage effects, must be pretty tiring in itself. Not to mention the boy had performed two encores and had a signing right after that.

“Good work today, everyone!”

And yet, he still has it in him to give them that dazzling smile, all too wide and innocent.

Some people say it back, patting him on the back as they pack up, but the star makes his way back to the main arena, straight to the technician tinkering with something at the base of the walkway. Erblu kneels down to the redheaded boy, watching him take components out of brightly colored boxes to throw into the trash.

“Those green flame pillars,” he says, “Those were new. I loved them!”

The boy — his tag reads Rune, with a cute little flames drawn around the name. He knows, because he drew them there himself — looks up with a twinkle in his eyes that’s a firework in itself. He smiles, and it creates dimples on his cheeks.

“You noticed!” he exclaims, sounding surprised that the singer did. “I found a cool fireworks company and their stuff is fucking great! All of that? One hundred percent real. I had to spend two hours finding a loophole in the rules so I could use it, but it paid off! You looked so great today!”

Erblu’s glad that he still has a flush from before, because otherwise Rune’s words would make one appear on his cheeks and he’s have to explain it.

“Thanks! It’s all thanks to you guys!”

Rune is just about done with… whatever it is he’s doing when the head of security, a tall, dark-skinned man with a prosthetic scary enough to fend off most people by itself (his name is Ref and he’s actually one of the nicest people on the team, if they’re being honest) comes to them, a pair of girls in his tow.

“These ladies insisted on seeing you, Erblu,” Ref tells them, folding his arms. His expression tells them they’d somehow managed to sneak past the security and threatened to sue them if they couldn’t get to their idol.

“It’s all right, thank you, Ref. Now, what would these beautiful ladies want?”

Ref shakes his head at Erblu and shifts on the balls of his heels. “Nope, I’m staying right here,” he says.

Rune’s expression shifts into a scowl and he also straightens out, taking the box of trash into his arms. “Good idea,” he mutters darkly.

The incident when a fan went so far as to try and cut off one of Erblu’s fingers is still fresh in all their minds. Only thanks to Ref and Roy, who managed to detain him, did Erblu escape unscathed.

The girls giggle, one pushing the other forward. The girl, short and barely reaching Erblu’s shoulders, has a cute blonde braid, shifting whenever she shuffles, and she shuffles a lot. From behind her back, she presents a heart-shaped, pink box of chocolate, holding it out for Erblu.

“I-I’ve fallen in love with you!” the girl exclaims, squeezing her eyes closed in embarrassment. “P-Please go out with me!”

Erblu offers her a soft smile, brows drawn together. “I’m sorry, I can’t accept. I don’t even know you… Plus, there’s already someone I like.”

It’s more than obvious Erblu i being nice to the girl, but even so she erupts in tears, sobs tearing out of her throat. He friend and Ref have to escort her out, box of chocolates left fallen  to the ground only to be picked up by Erblu.

“I feel a bit bad,” he confesses, running his fingers over the box softly, “But they’d be all disappointed. I mean, they fall in love with an idol, someone who’s always perfect, but that’s not… me.”

“Hm, I think you’re plenty cool off stage too,” Rune mutters, carrying the box to the back entrance where he throws it to the garbage bin. Erblu follows him,  having nothing better to do just yet.

“Did you really mean that, Mochi?” Rune asks out of nowhere, when he seems done with his job and sitting on a bench covered by costumes.

Erblu, sitting next to him and playing with a bottle of ice tea, looks at him, blinking in confusion. “Mean what?”

“That you like someone. Who is it? Tell me, come on!”

Erblu snorts, looking away and taking a sip of the tea. “Right, so you can make fun of me. I’m not telling you.”

“I won’t make fun of you! Come on, tell me!” Rune pouts, sticking his bottom lip out. Erblu doesn’t even have to look to know.

“I’m not gonna tell you,” Erblu repeats, recapping the bottle and setting it down to stretch. His back makes a satisfying sound in agreement.

“But you do like someone then, Mochi,” Rune deduces, and all Erblu can do is sigh as he picks up the pink box of chocolates.

He opens it and angles it towards the redhead. “You want a chocolate? It’d be a shame if they went to waste.”

Sighing as well, Rune reaches to grab one. They’re good, with a whole nut inside accompanied by nougat. Though he can’t savor it fully, because his insides are squeezing tightly and even swallowing the half-melted piece of choco is tough.

Erblu likes someone. Well, of course he would, he knows so many talented performers, after all.

Rune never had a chance to begin with.

* * *

Ref brings a whole armful of  heart-shaped candy and letters. Rune spies a plethora of love letters and also cute plushies, no bigger than keychain-sized. He feels a pang in his chest as Ref dumps them unceremoniously onto the already cluttered backstage table, along with a huff.

Ref doesn’t like being a busboy for the gifts, but he does it anyway.

The way Mochi beams up and practically skips to the pile with glee also does things to Rune’s chest, and he hates it. Hates how happy it makes Mochi when he’s showered in compliments and love and gifts. Hates how angry it makes him at himself, because shouldn’t he be happy?

’ _You’re jealous,_ ’ he thinks, and then immediately shuns his inner voice. It may be right, but he doesn’t want to admit it. _Why_ would he be jealous anyway?

He wants Mochi to smile like that at him, be so gleeful when Rune is the one who gets him something.

Erblu picks up a box of candy and turns to him with that dazzling smile. “Good job today, everyone! Anyone want some candies?”

And doesn’t Mochi already do that? He smiles at Rune like the shining star he is. He is so excited whenever Rune alters the visuals without telling him beforehand. Shouldn’t he be happy with just that? Shouldn’t he be happy when Mochi comes bounding to him and envelops him in a hug, exclaiming, “You made the fires so good tonight as well! It was amazing!” and then shoving the yellow pack of candies almost right up in his face?

He takes one of the chewy candies and pops it into his mouth, if only to see Mochi’s smile widening even further. He looks like he’s still on stage, with the bright light shining on him and making him seem like he’s glowing.

The tugging at Rune’s chest worsens, but in a different sense. It isn’t particularly painful anymore, instead it feels warm. He wants to keep looking at Mochi like this, but the taller man turns away to offer the candies to the rest of the crew.

Rune stands there for a moment longer, as if rooted to the spot, looking at the singer’s cheerful demeanor with a pounding heart and sweet taste clinging to the inside of his mouth. The box of his used fireworks is still in his frozen hands.

Mochi is always so nice — it’s not surprising that so many people love him. And then there’s him; a short pyrotechnician with nothing going for him aside from his proficiency with fire.

He puts the box away and gets around to continuing cleaning up after the performance. He’d used so many fireworks tonight, after all.

* * *

There’s a tightness to his chest, a breathlessness that’ll take a while to go away, he knows, but he still can’t help his smile, or the way he almost runs to the backstage room.

The sounds of the fans leaving the arena get gradually quieter and quieter, until it’s just the crew running around and ridding the place of their presence. They’ve been here an hour longer than planned already, all because he couldn’t say no to the fans’ pleas for an encore.

The usual bunch is already in the room, running around the wooden panels and various prop stands with mastery like no others. Rune has a stack of boxes with the used up fireworks ready to go into the trash.

As usual, the fire show was a spectacle — for the audience as much as for him. Even after all the shows they’d worked on together, Rune can still surprise him with all the creative ways he can handle the colorful fireworks.

He’s long since gotten used to the feeling of fire going off right next to him, but there is always something exhilarating about it, when a pop of color goes off when he doesn’t expect it.

But he trusts Rune, and somewhere down the road he’d even asked the redhead not to tell him what he’s planning for the next show. Rune always knows the schedule and choreography, so Erblu is never scared of the fireworks going off too close for comfort for the others. And it always pays off - the show is always amazing, and Erblu is so happy that his fans get what they pay for.

“Rune!” Erblu exclaims, his voice going higher than it does when he sings. For some reason it always surprises people, how easily he switches between voices after shows. He envelops the boy in his arms and squeezes, like their usual routine. Rune is warm and doesn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around Erblu as well, much to the chagrin of the singer’s already pounding heart. “Great job! I loved the green lights at the end!”

That floaty feeling of breathlessness fills him up to the brim and he smiles at the shorter boy. He’s sure his own face is flushed red from exertion, but when he sees Rune’s going red at the praise as well, he feels unrealistically happy.

“Thank you,” Rune mumbles, looking away from the silver haired man. “You did great tonight as well! Everyone was blown away!”

“That’s all your work! I just sang and did some dance moves,” Mochi says, like that isn’t why all the people come to the concert or. Like that isn’t all a concert _is_.

Rune has known Mochi long enough to know he really means it, that he really thinks it’s all the crew’s work and he’s just there for the looks.

But Rune knows the charm Mochi has on people, knows he can get them all to cheer with just one wave of a hand. And he has to admit he’s right there with the crowd, staring so intently he forgets his cues a few times too many. But he can’t help it; he loves seeing Mochi on stage, covered in blinding light that seems to accentuate all his good features — which is all of them, honestly.

He doesn’t say anything and lets the star help him move the boxes to the trash.


End file.
